Geology

Geology is the science of the solid Earth: its composition, structure, and the processes that have shaped it over billions of years. It is a discipline that works at extremes of time and space, reconstructing events that occurred before life existed on land from the evidence preserved in rocks, minerals, and fossils, and using that understanding to address pressing contemporary questions about natural resources, geological hazards, climate change, and planetary evolution. Geology is fundamentally an observational and interpretive science: geologists are trained to read landscapes, rock sequences, and microscopic mineral textures as records of past processes, combining fieldwork and laboratory analysis with quantitative modelling.

At Cardiff University, this three-year full-time programme provides a rigorous training in the core areas of the discipline. You will study mineralogy and petrology, sedimentology and stratigraphy, structural geology, geochemistry, palaeontology, and geophysics, building a comprehensive understanding of how different parts of the Earth system work and interact. Fieldwork is central to geological education, and the programme includes field courses in areas with varied and accessible geology, giving you the direct experience of working with rocks in the landscape that no amount of laboratory or classroom study can substitute.

Cardiff's location in Wales, a country with geological history of extraordinary interest from Cambrian fossil sites to Devonian Old Red Sandstone, provides excellent contexts for local field study.

You will develop both technical skills, including use of geological mapping, petrographic microscopy, and geochemical analysis, and the broader capacities for observation, inference, and scientific communication that underpin all geological work.

Graduates pursue careers in the oil and gas industry, mining and minerals, hydrogeology and groundwater management, environmental consultancy, engineering geology, and government geological surveys. Many go on to postgraduate study or research in specialist areas of the Earth sciences. The discipline also provides excellent preparation for careers in science communication and education.